New Poll: Gay Marriage Support in Calif. at Record High

A recent poll conducted by the nonpartisan Public Policy of Institute of California (PPIC), surveyed 1,704 adults, found 56 percent of Californians believe same-sex couples should have the right to marry while just 38 percent of those surveyed were against marriage equality in the state. Bloomberg News reports.

"The more that there’s been acceptable and legal change in other states, the more Californians have been accepting, especially among some of those groups that were strongly opposed," Mark Baldassare, the group’s president, told Bloomberg.

The poll results come just a month before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Defense of Marriage Act, and Proposition 8, the California ballot measure passed by voters in 2008 that prohibits same-sex couples from tying the knot in the golden state.

A Ventura County Star article on the Huffington Post points out, the support for marriage equality in California is at its highest. PPIC has been surveying California citizens on gay marriage since January 2000. In that year, only 39 percent backed gay marriage and 55 percent were against. In 2008 the poll found Republican support doubled to 46 percent from 23 percent.

The survey was conducted by landline and cellphone interviews from May 14 to 20. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percent.

Three U.S. states and three countries have approved same-sex unions just in the two months since the Supreme Court heard arguments over gay marriage, raising questions about how the developments might affect the justices’ consideration of the issue.

Forty gay couples in South Dakota applied to be married during the first month following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized such unions across the country, according to data provided by the state Department of Health.